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Dir. Brad Bird
USA, 1999; 90 mins, in English
Rated PG
In this animated adaptation of Ted Hughes' Cold War fable -- a story the poet wrote for his own children -- a giant alien robot (Vin Diesel) crash-lands near the small town of Rockwell, Maine, in 1957. Exploring the area, a local 9-year-old boy, Hogarth, discovers the robot and soon forms an unlikely friendship with him. When a paranoid government agent, Kent Mansley, becomes determined to destroy the robot, Hogarth and beatnik Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr.) must do what they can to save the misunderstood mechanical creature. After being turned into a concept album by musician Peter Townshened, The Iron Giant became the first feature of genius animator Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles), who was captivated by the mythological qualities of the tale. In his words: “The Maine setting looks Norman Rockwell idyllic on the outside, but inside everything is just about to boil over; everyone was scared of the bomb, the Russians, Sputnik — even rock and roll. This clenched Ward Cleaver smile masking fear (which is really what the Kent character was all about). It was the perfect environment to drop a 50-foot-tall robot into.”
